DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has been working toward achieving
these major objectives:

Transformation of the discipline of mechanical engineering

Strong undergraduate educational programs

Contribution to the fundamental knowledge base and generation of technology
innovation through research

We have assembled a staff of very talented and creative faculty, implemented
strong educational programs, established organizational infrastructure and physical
facilities that are suitable for cutting edge research, and generated strong
external support for our research and education to achieve these goals. We have
made significant progress toward achieving all of our objectives. The department
is stronger than ever by any measure  second to none.

Transformation of the discipline of mechanical engineering

Several powerful forces have been changing the field of mechanical engineering.

The development in information and communications technologies has changed
the role of mechanical engineers in industry, academia, and business.

The biological revolution has created new opportunities for understanding
biological phenomena based on basic disciplines that underlie mechanical engineering.
These opportunities led to the creation of instruments and other engineering
tools for biotechnology and medicine.

Mechanical engineers are dealing with micro- and nano-scale devices and
elements in such industries as semiconductor manufacturing, biological and
chemical applications, displays, etc.

Engineering is increasingly dealing with large, distributed complex systems
thanks to the Internet, the global economy, and transformation of industrial
infrastructure. All of these changes require the ability to deal with large
systems.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has established the following
as the objective to lead in the transformation of mechanical engineering discipline:

To transform the field of mechanical engineering from
a discipline that has been primarily based on physics into one that
is based on physics, information and biology.

We have created the dArbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems, the
Center for the Auto-ID Center, the Hatsopoulos Laboratory for Micro-Fluid Dynamics,
and the Laboratory for Bio-Instrumentation, in addition to reinforcing the traditional
areas of the departments strengths in engineering science, design, manufacturing,
internal combustion engine, and systems to achieve this goal. New faculty members
with appropriate educational and research expertise were hired from such disciplines
as physics, computer science, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering,
in addition to traditional mechanical engineering disciplines. As a result,
the department has very strong faculty and programs.

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Program

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has about 400 undergraduate studentsslightly
smaller than five years ago. We have about 32% women students and 49% minority
students.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has embarked on a three pronged approach
to improving undergraduate education: new curriculum structure, new instructional
pedagogy, and the creation of modern teaching facilities. We have made much
progress in all three areas.

The structure for our new undergraduate curriculum emphasizes four important
elements of learning: the delivery of integrated knowledge of engineering disciplines,
active learning, hands-on experience to gain a sense of engineering tasks, and
the simultaneous teaching of analysis and synthesis in a single sequence of
required subjects. It has four core sequences: mechanics and materials; thermal
and fluid sciences; design and manufacturing; and dynamics, systems and control.
The first class to graduate under the new curriculum did so in 1999. In addition
to core subjects, we have developed new elective subjects. For example, Professor
Siu has created a sophomore level internet subject and Professor Lloyd has created
a senior/graduate level subject in information and probabilities.

Fourteen Designated Professors are working in teams to develop core sequences
in four areas. They are developing teaching materials--books, web-based materials,
experiments and new teaching paradigms. These book writing efforts have been
possible thanks to the "Pappalardo Curriculum Development Fund"an
endowment fund created by Neil and Jane Pappalardo. The books written by the
Designated Professors will be published by the Oxford University Press under
a new seriesthe MIT-Pappalardo Series of Mechanical Engineering Books.
The Pappalardos share our dream of educating people worldwide better through
the development of teaching materials.

The Committee on New Instructional Paradigms, under the leadership of Professor
Mary Boyce, has developed a plan to introduce three new approaches to learning:
"Scientific Discovery" mode of learning, "Socratic" modes
of learning, and "Just in Time" of mode of learning. These ideas will
be implemented under the MIT-wide initiative called the I-Campus Program.

With this curriculum in mind, we have modernized our educational facilities
over the past several years. The Pappalardo Laboratories is the ideal setting
for hands-on experience in design studio and machine shop for students. The
AMP Laboratory also provides hands-on experience in the field of materials,
and the dArbeloff Laboratory is the home for the study of mechatronics.
The Der Torossian Computer Laboratory is where students learn their computational
engineering, and the Cross CAD/CAM Laboratory will enable us to implement a
"Just in Time" mode of learning.

In addition to these facilities, we are actively seeking funds to convert the
Main Parking Lot into an atrium. The Committee on New Instructional Paradigms
has proposed that we create cubicles for all our undergraduates around the edges
of the atrium. This undergraduate space will enhance the reputation of MIT as
a residential university by letting students learn from each other on a more
interactive basis. We may have promising leads for the necessary funds, but
do not have a firm commitment.

Although it is much too early to assess the relative quality of education they
received, the new curriculum heightened the awareness of the importance of undergraduate
education at MIT. In 1996, the department created the "Keenan Award for
Teaching Innovation" to augment the "Den Hartog Award for Teaching
Excellence". The recipients to date of the Keenan Award are Douglas Hart
and Kevin Otto, Mary Boyce, and David Wallace. Five of mechanical engineering
faculty members have been recognized by the Institute as the McVicar Faculty
Fellows for their teaching excellence. The most recent recipients are Rohan
Abeyaratne and Ernest Cravalho.

Graduate Education

Our graduate program is strong. According to statistics we have, we attract
some of the best available graduate students in the country and the matriculation
rate is higher than our sister institutions. External ratings support this contention.
Our goal is to attract more of the best students in the available applicant
pool to our department. The department has about 400 graduate students17%
of S.M. candidates are women and 7% of doctoral students are women. Minority
students make up 13% of our graduate student body; foreign students make up
35%.

In 1999, we decided to reduce the number of graduate students we accept (from
about 200 to 150 from an applicant pool of 650) and increase the yield by making
the department more competitive through more fellowshipsand by being more
hospitable to those admitted. In 1999 and again in 2000, we had a special weekend
orientation session for the best 50 students we accepted. Also with the support
of the central administration, we increased the number of fellowships. As a
result of all these actions, the number of financially guaranteed students who
chose MIT increased to 73% in 1999 from 36% in 1998. We will continue to reduce
the number of admitted students and attempt to increase the matriculation rate.

The number of new graduate subjects offered has increased with the addition
of new faculty members and expansion of our research interests. At the same
time, some of the subjects we used to offer have been eliminated to make room
for new subjects. We offer new subjects in areas such as optics, manufacturing
systems, design, the Internet, mechanics, information, and biophysics.

The department has been putting a large fraction of its resource into the support
of its graduate programs. Since all professors teach only one subject a term,
with the rest of their time being devoted to research and supervision of graduate
students, one might surmise that more than 50% of the faculty effort ultimately
goes into the graduate program.

Our graduate program has undergone changes by addition of more subjects related
to engineering systems, design, optics, bioengineering, and information. Recently,
the faculty members in the dArbeloff Laboratoryunder the leadership
of Professor Harry Asadahave created a series of "Gateway" subjects.
The goal is to enable our graduate students in mechanical engineering to take
advanced graduate subjects offered in the Department of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science without taking all the pre-requisite subjects required
for these EECS subjects. The creation of these new subjects has been made possible
with the addition of new faculty members whose expertise lie in some of these
fields and through the shifting research interest of our faculty members.

The department is one of the largest producers of Ph.D. level mechanical engineers
in the country. One of the key steps in guaranteeing the quality of our doctoral
graduates is the doctoral qualifying examination. An ad hoc faculty committee
has been reviewing the doctoral examinationthe goal, the process, the
contents, and the results of the examination. We will introduce changes in the
examination to reflect the diverse base of our research programs and faculty
interests.

To facilitate research in these areas, we have created the dArbeloff
Laboratory for Information Systems, Auto ID Center, Laboratory for Bio-Instrumentation,
and the Hatsopoulos Laboratory for Micro-Fluid Dynamics. These new laboratories
and centers have augmented and complemented other laboratories such as the Laboratory
for Manufacturing and Productivity, the Sloan Automotive Laboratory, the Cryogenics
Laboratory, the AMP Laboratory, the Center for Innovative Productive Development,
and the Rohsenow Heat and Mass Transfer Laboratory.

On the basic research side, we have had a real burst of original research that
has attracted worldwide interest. A few examples will be briefly given here.
Associate Professor L. Mahadevan, who is a leading academician in mechanics/applied
mathematician/classical physics, has published many papers that explain many
physical instability phenomena, (including folding of paper, buckling of liquid
columns, and motion of falling cards), and biological phenomena (such as the
motility of cells and the helical structure of DNA). His publications in Nature
and Science have attracted even the interest of the popular press. The work
done by Associate Professor Peter So on two-photon microscopy is letting us
see the motion of molecules below the skin, which may someday enable us to deal
with cancer cells non-invasively. The work on algorithms by Associate Professor
Sunny Siu on the Next Generation Internet will not only increase the speed of
the Internet but also affect manufacturing, inventory control, and many others.
The fast and accurate PIV algorithm developed by Associate Professor Douglas
Hart is affecting many fields in addition to fluid mechanics. Associate Professor
Seth Lloyd and others in the department comprise one the leading groups in the
country in dealing with the issue complexity and complex systems.

On the technology innovation side, our department has made major impacts in
many different fields through major technological innovations that have been
transferred to industry. Examples are: 3-D Printing by Professor Ely Sachs,
DBM (Droplet Based Manufacturing) by Associate Professor Jung-Hoon Chun, Microcellular
Plastics and Acclaro (software for designers of hardware, software, and others)
by Professor Nam Suh, a PC-based controller by Professor Harry Asada, artificial
skin by Professor Ioannis Yannas, Charge-Decay NDE and DOME by Associate Professor
David Wallace, lithography stage by Associate Professor David Trumper, seals
by Associate Professor Doug Hart, haptics innovation by Associate Professor
Sanjay Sarma, and many others.

We also have many exciting research projects as a result of synergism between
faculty members with different backgrounds. We have created the Auto ID Center,
under the leadership of Associate Professor Sunny Siu and Assistant Professor
Sanjay Sarma, with substantial financial backing from many major corporations
to combine the Internet and the passive RF tags for the purpose of replacing
and expanding the bar code technology. The standards and technologies that will
be developed in this center may make a profound impact on even the "Just
in Time" mode of learning. It is really heartening to see so much collaboration:
between theoreticians and designers, between optics specialists and bioengineers,
between manufacturing specialists and the networking specialists, and between
specialists in quantum physicist and engineers. These teams create new technologies
and theories involving students with the focus on their education.

Our expansion into information technology deserves a special mention. Five
years ago, we decided to expand our activities in the information area because
future mechanical engineers will not be able to practice their profession and
become leaders unless they are deeply rooted in information technology. With
the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Alex dArbeloff we established the
dArbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems. Many activities are taking
place in the Laboratory, including the Auto-ID Center, Home Healthcare Automation
Consortium, research on quantum mechanical computers, and others.

InterDepartmental and Institutional Programs

Many faculty members are participating and taking a leadership role in the
Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA). This greatly benefits the department. For example,
we are launching our "Master of Engineering In Manufacturing" Degree
program, using the resource that has been made available by the SMA to the participating
faculty members in the manufacturing part of the SMA. This one-year professional
degree program will be available only to those with three or more industrial
experience.

Two of our faculty members (Professors Roger Kamm and Ioannis Yannas) have
taken up two-key appointment by taking up 1/2-time positions in the newly created
Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health.

SPACE

We have been fortunate to have major supporters for the department who made
it possible to update, renovate, or create new facilities. The Pappalardo Laboratories
continue to be used heavily by all undergraduate students taking 2.670, 2.007,
2.009, and other subjects. Its highly flexible and reconfigurable design makes
it extremely versatile.

The dArbeloff Laboratory includes one mechatronics teaching laboratory
that provide home our elective subjects, in addition to providing research facilities.

The AMP Laboratory continues to serve 2.002 students well.

The Der Torossian Computer Laboratory is always over-flowing with students
taking many subjects that require computation. It will be an even more important
resource as we try the "Just-in-Time" mode of learning.

Recently we have undertaken the construction of the Cross CAD/CAM Laboratory
in Building 35, the home of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity
(LMP), and the Cross Student Lounge in Building 3. These facilities have been
possible with the generous gift of Mr. Ralph E. Cross, who has also given a
senior chair and funds to support LMP.

We will be constructing the BJ and JH Park Lecture Halls in Building 3 to replace
the old style classrooms 3-270 and 3-370 with a large classroom, a medium size
classroom and two small classrooms, beginning in Summer 2000. These new lecture
facilities will enable us to try two new modes of instructional paradigm: "Scientific
Discovery" and "Socratic" modes of learning. Dr. Park is an alumnus
of our department.

We are also preparing to renovate the second floor of Building 3 to create
the Hatsopoulos Laboratory for Micro-Fluid Dynamics. It was made possible by
the generous gift of Dr. George N. Hatsopoulos and Mrs. Daphane Hatsopoulos.
They also established a senior chair in the department.

Like any expanding departments on campus, the Department of Mechanical Engineering
needs more space. A few of our needs are listed here:

Two years ago we submitted an ambitious fund raising plan for the Bio-Instrumentation
Laboratory. We are hopeful that MIT will include it as one of its highest
priority items of MITs fund raising campaign.

We also presented the idea that we should convert the Main Parking Lot into
an atrium. It is our understanding that now this idea has been endorsed by
all three architects that MIT has hired to work on its major projects. Since
then, our Committee on New Instructional Paradigm recommended that all undergraduate
students be given their study space in the atrium so as to promote the student-student
interactions, which is a key benefit of attending a residential university.
We are working to find a benefactor.

We need to expand into the space currently occupied by the Laboratory for
Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) when they move into the new Stata
Complex. This will alleviate the extreme space shortage faced by the department.
We need space for the Manufacturing Institute, a new nanotechnology laboratory,
in addition to the space for the Laboratory for Bio-Instrumentation Systems.

WOMEN AND MINORITY FACULTY MEMBERS

We have a poor record of finding and attracting women professors. It has been
a difficult experience. At one point, we increased the number of women professors
to four, but now we have only two women professors (one tenured and one not
yet tenured) and one visiting professor. We have made special efforts, but the
end result has been dismal. We will continue the effort.

We have done a little bit better in increasing under-represented minority professors.
We found an extremely bright researcher and he is an outstanding teacher among
our Ph.D. students. He has already taught our undergraduate students and received
raving reviews. Marty Culpepper will be joining us as an Assistant Professor
beginning in January 2001 after a short industrial tour to gain a perspective
on industrial challenges.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has vigorous and innovative programs
that befits an institution for creating future leaders.

It has a strong new undergraduate educational structure, outstanding facilities
and new learning paradigms under development. Fourteen Designated Professors
are creating new teaching materials and new teaching methods, which will be
published in a special series of the Oxford University Press. This should benefit
all educational institutions throughout the world.

The department has successfully initiated new research groups in information
and Bio-Instrumentation, which augment the more traditional research groups
in other areas. Furthermore, faculty members in these new research areas and
in the more traditional areas are generating new research topics and paradigms,
which show a promise of creating new knowledge base and leading to new technological
innovations.

The department is attracting a large number of outstanding graduate students
who thrive in its exciting research and educational environment. We are increasingly
becoming more competitive through creation of new subjects and new research
strengths at the crossroads of science and technology.

Through all of these efforts, the Department of Mechanical Engineering is approaching
its goal of "Transforming the discipline of mechanical engineering from
that which has been primarily based on physics to one that is based on physics,
information, and biology."

More information on the department can be found on the World Wide Web at http://me.mit.edu/.